Personal Finance

Our team of experts is here to help provide unbiased, common-sense personal finance advice & insights. Get money management tips & ideas, learn how to improve your budgeting and receive guidance on how to save & invest your money to drive greater returns. These are just some of the personal finance topics our experts address.

Advertiser Disclosure A judgment is an order issued by a court of law. When you borrow money, you are legally required to repay the debt. This includes opening a credit card account, getting a line of credit from your bank and obtaining financing for a big purchase. You can also become indebted to service providers.... Read More

Advertiser Disclosure Whether you’re renting an apartment, house or duplex, your home should feel like a safe place—one that’s comfortable and secure. But what if something happens that makes your apartment unsafe? Or what if you can’t make your rent? Maybe you need to break your lease, and don’t know what to do. If you’re... Read More

Advertiser Disclosure Dear Tiff, I just graduated college. What should be one of the best times of my life feels pretty bleak and uncertain right now. I know you can’t help with everything, but maybe you could give me some advice on how to plan for my financial future when I’m not sure how to... Read More

Advertiser Disclosure Understanding the state of your finances is a crucial aspect of running a business, no matter whether it’s big or small. Businessowners need to make sure that the money keeps flowing. Besides, it’s important to be able to prepare for any debts, emergency, or unforeseen events. Ignoring financial management can lead to severe... Read More

Advertiser Disclosure The federal government passed the CARES Act in March 2020 in response to the economic need created by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. And while the act prohibits stimulus money from being taken to settle certain obligations, not all debts are protected. Find out more below. About the 2020 Stimulus Checks As part of... Read More

Advertiser Disclosure If you think you’re immune to damage from a collection account on your credit report because you pay your bills on time, think again. Medical bills that you don’t know about could be hurting your credit—and the odds are not in your favor. In fact, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reports that around... Read More

Advertiser Disclosure Losing your job is stressful. Losing your health insurance on top of that is even worse. And whether you have health concerns now or want to safeguard yourself and family for the future, you might be worried about how to cover medical expenses if you’re out of work. Find out what to do... Read More

Advertiser Disclosure According to many economists, the US has entered a recession, due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Already dubbed the Great Lockdown, this recession has the potential to affect the global economy. No one can really predict when a recession will hit, but data shows that the US experiences recession, on average, every three... Read More

Advertiser Disclosure According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, housing is the most expensive budget item for average American households. It accounts for an average of 32% of all expenditures. With mortgage payments or rent drawing so heavily on consumer finances, it’s not surprising that sometimes people have to say, “I can’t pay my rent.”... Read More

Advertiser Disclosure For millions of Americans, unemployment benefits provide a lifeline during a difficult time. But collecting those benefits isn’t always simple. Unemployment claims are often denied, sometimes for avoidable reasons. Find out more how to increase the chance you get those needed benefits. What Are Unemployment Benefits? Americans who find themselves without a job... Read More

Credit.com receives compensation for the financial products and services advertised on this site if our users apply for and sign up for any of them.

Hello, Reader!

Thanks for checking out Credit.com. We hope you find the site and the journalism we produce useful. We wanted to take some time to tell you a bit about ourselves.

Our People

The Credit.com editorial team is staffed by a team of editors and reporters, each with many years of financial reporting experience. We’ve worked for places like the New York Times, American Banker, Frontline, TheStreet.com, Business Insider, ABC News, NBC News, CNBC and many others. We also employ a few freelancers and more than 50 contributors (these are typically subject matter experts from the worlds of finance, academia, politics, business and elsewhere).

Our Reporting

We take great pains to ensure that the articles, video and graphics you see on Credit.com are thoroughly reported and fact-checked. Each story is read by two separate editors, and we adhere to the highest editorial standards. We’re not perfect, however, and if you see something that you think is wrong, please email us at editorial team [at] credit [dot] com,

The Credit.com editorial team is committed to providing our readers and viewers with sound, well-reported and understandable information designed to inform and empower. We won’t tell you what to do. We will, however, do our best to explain the consequences of various actions, thereby arming you with the information you need to make decisions that are in your best interests. We also write about things relating to money and finance we think are interesting and want to share.

In addition to appearing on Credit.com, our articles are syndicated to dozens of other news sites. We have more than 100 partners, including MSN, ABC News, CBS News, Yahoo, Marketwatch, Scripps, Money Magazine and many others. This network operates similarly to the Associated Press or Reuters, except we focus almost exclusively on issues relating to personal finance. These are not advertorial or paid placements, rather we provide these articles to our partners in most cases for free. These relationships create more awareness of Credit.com in general and they result in more traffic to us as well.

Our Business Model

Credit.com’s journalism is largely supported by an e-commerce business model. Rather than rely on revenue from display ad impressions, Credit.com maintains a financial marketplace separate from its editorial pages. When someone navigates to those pages, and applies for a credit card, for example, Credit.com will get paid what is essentially a finder’s fee if that person ends up getting the card. That doesn’t mean, however, that our editorial decisions are informed by the products available in our marketplace. The editorial team chooses what to write about and how to write about it independently of the decisions and priorities of the business side of the company. In fact, we maintain a strict and important firewall between the editorial and business departments. Our mission as journalists is to serve the reader, not the advertiser. In that sense, we are no different from any other news organization that is supported by ad revenue.

Visitors to Credit.com are also able to register for a free Credit.com account, which gives them access to a tool called The Credit Report Card. This tool provides users with two free credit scores and a breakdown of the information in their Experian credit report, updated twice monthly. Again, this tool is entirely free, and we mention that frequently in our articles, because we think that it’s a good thing for users to have access to data like this. Separate from its educational value, there is also a business angle to the Credit Report Card. Registered users can be matched with products and services for which they are most likely to qualify. In other words, if you register and you find that your credit is less than stellar, Credit.com won’t recommend a high-end platinum credit card that requires an excellent credit score You’d likely get rejected, and that’s no good for you or Credit.com. You’d be no closer to getting a product you need, there’d be a wasted inquiry on your credit report, and Credit.com wouldn’t get paid. These are essentially what are commonly referred to as "targeted ads" in the world of the Internet. Despite all of this, however, even if you never apply for any product, the Credit Report Card will remain free, and none of this will impact how the editorial team reports on credit and credit scores.

Your Stories

Lastly, much of what we do is informed by our own experiences as well as the experiences of our readers. We want to tell your stories if you’re interested in sharing them. Please email us at story ideas [at] credit [dot] com with ideas or visit us on Facebook or Twitter.